BBC ordered to cut repeats and foreign shows

THE BBC has been all but banned from showing repeats or foreign programmes during the evenings as part of a major shake-up of TV rules.

The broadcaster was accused of being ‘too reliant’ on reruns of films, sitcoms and long-running daytime shows.

Ofcom, the television watchdog, said it must ensure that nine out of ten shows on BBC1 and BBC2 during peak hours are ‘original productions for UK audiences’. It defines peak hours as 6pm until 10.30pm.

The BBC will be forced to commission more series in the mould of Doctor Foster, W1A and The Night Manager, and to row back on bought-in series like the Swedish Wallander, or reruns of classic films.

While it accepted that there is an appetite for long-running shows like Bargain Hunt, Ofcom sources said audiences did not need to see old episodes repeated multiple times.

The rules are also designed to force the BBC to do more to reflect the entire UK, after licence fee payers in many parts of the country said they ‘don’t feel properly represented’.

Ofcom director Kevin Bakhurst said: ‘We want to make sure the BBC does the best it can to make British- made programmes that properly represent Britain. Viewers are clear they want to see new programmes that reflect their lives and interests.’

The watchdog was also concerned that the BBC showed too many cartoons made overseas, or designed to feel international so that the Corporation can share the cost with other broadcasters around the world.

The BBC must ensure at least 400 hours of programming on CBBC and 100 hours on CBeebies are made in Britain for UK audiences. BBC Four quotas are more relaxed.

Ofcom will also bar the BBC from focusing too much of its attention on London. The Corporation is under orders to put more regional voices on air – especially from Wales and Northern Ireland.

And it will have to commission more shows from Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, ensuring that it spends as much money in each nation as licence fee payers put in.

The BBC has resisted this sort of change in the past, saying box-ticking targets are too restrictive.

But yesterday it accepted the shake-up. A BBC spokesman said: ‘These are a tough and challenging set of requirements which rightly demand a distinctive BBC which serves and represents all audiences throughout the whole UK.

‘We will now get on with meeting these requirements.’